Mail-bag stand



(No Model.)

A. S. HILL.

MAIL BAG STAND.

No. 551,879. Patented Dec. 17, 1895.

AKOFIW B GRAHAM. mm-umawAsmnm-cwo c" UNITED STATES PATENT Fries.

AMOS S. HILL, OF MACKOY, KENTUCKY.

MAIL-BAG STAND.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 551,379, dated December 17, 1895.

Application filed September 7, 1895. Serial No. 561,785. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, AMOs S. HILL, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Mackoy, in the county of Greenup arfd State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail-Bag Stands, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved mailbag stand from which trains may take the mail without stopping.

The object of my invention is to provide a mail-bag stand which is simple in construe tion, cheaply manufactured, and which may be readily erected at any desired point.

A further object of the invention is to so construct a device that the rings of the mailbag will not be jerked out nor the bag torn, to do away with the tying of the bag, as well as to provide means whereby the bag can be quickly and easily attached to the stand in such a manner that the delivery of the bag to the train is made positive and certain.

For a complete understanding of my invention reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, wherein corresponding letters indicate like parts in the several views, and in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of the stand complete in operative position. Fig. 2 shows the position of stand after delivery. Fig. 3 is a detail showing the construction of the upper flexible arm of the stand.

In the drawings, A refers to the vertical standard, which may be constructed of any suitable material.

B is an adjustable horizontal arinpivotally secured to the vertical standard about midway of its length by means of a strap 0 cmbracing the standard and bolted thereto, the ends a of the strap being provided with suitable means for securing the inner end of arm B therein, so that when it is not in use the arm will fall down into a vertical position.

To the upper side of arm B, near its inner and, is secured by means of a staple a pawl G, for a purpose hereinafter described.

F is a rack-bar suitably secured to the innor side of standard A to regulate the tension of flexible arms, hereinafter referred to.

D is a second horizontal arm pivotally secured at or near its inner end in a suitable strap D at the upper end of the standard, as

shown. The inner end of this arm may be weighted so that it will assume a vertical position when not in use, but for ordinary use it may, if desired, remain in a horizontal po sition, the lower arm only assuming a vertical position after the bag has been delivered.

Near the outer end of arm D, and 011 the upper side thereof is pivoted, about midway of its length, a metallic spring-arm E, preferably made of springsteel, having its inner end e apertured and slightly bent downward. The outer end of this arm is divided into three strips 6 c e, the outer ones, 6 6 being bent upward so that a triangular block J is pivotally secured therein by means of a bolt j passing through these strips and through the larger end of the block, as shown in Fig. 3.

K is a brace pivoted at one end to the upper side of arm D, about midway of its length and near the point where the arm E is pivoted. The outer end of this brace terminates in a depending sharpened point 7:, which engages one of a series of holes 6 in the arm E near its outer end to retain this arm in a position at an angle with respect to the horizontal arms. A smilar brace may be attached to arm B, if desired.

H is a spring metallic arm similar to arm E, having slightly-curved and depending ends. The inner one, It, is apertured and has a chain L with a hook Z thereon for engagement with the links Z of a chain M secured to the inner end of arm E.

In the operation of my device the rings or straps on the ends of the mail-bag are placed, one over the block J, near its smaller and sharpened end j, the other ring or strap being placed over the outer end of the flexible arm II, this arm being first brought into a horizontal position and held there by means of engaging-hook Zof the chain L into one of the links of chain M.

The tension of the spring-arms to hold the bag to a degree sufficiently taut is next regu lated by the pawl G onthe arm 13 and the rack-bar F on the standard. By means of the pivoted flexible arms it is evident that the arms may be regulated to form any suitable angle with respect to the standard A, on either side thereof, so that the trains going in either direction may remove the bagwith but little resistance, and avoid the strain which is encountered in stands heretofore used.

Having thus described my invention, What I desire to secure by Letters Patent is The combination in a mail bag stand, of a vertical standard, a horizontal arm pivoted thereto midway of its length, a second horizontal arm pivoted near its inner end to the upper end of the standard, a flexible arm pivoted midway of its length to the upper side of the second arm, and having an inner depending apertured end and an outer end divided into three strips, a triangular block pivoted between these strips, apertures in the flexible arm near its inner end, and a brace on the second arm to engage said apertures,

AMOS S. HILL. Witnesses M. A. GARLAND, G. A. 00mm. 

